Prince ask the Sherif to clean up lawless fan sites:
In a move regarded by many industry pundits as somewhat self defeating, Prince has demanded that a number of fan websites stop using his image.
His aggressive approach, enforced on his behalf by Web Sheriff, seems to be a side-effect of a new business model in which sight of the artist in live performance constitutes the principal revenue stream and recorded music is effectively just an advertisement. His most recent album was given away with The Mail on Sunday.
His ingenious reinvention of what it means to be a pop musician in the 21st century hasn’t, however, prevented web commentators from having a good deal of fun at his expense. The celebrated, and frequently scatological, website B3ta has issued a challenge to Prince in the form of a competition for contributors to create the funniest and rudest image of the star. Some are just droll, like Sine'O'the Times, above. Others are a reminder that the Internet can be a fierce and relentless antagonist.
Predictably, Web Sheriff has issued takedown notices to several B3ta users already, exciting much debate on the jurisdiction of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which has been invoked in the cease-and-desist notifications.
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